Valentine's Schmalentines

 In a slight variation from our annual tradition, I decided to make tiny dough hearts and let the boys decorate their own pizzas this year. They seem to enjoy the freedom of choice that this provides them. And they are starting to get the hang of exactly how to top a pizza to perfection.

 The results looked pretty good, and tasted good too.

 It took several tries for Gavin to get a photo of us, but the heart was just too beautiful not to document.

Wyatt was really wanting a shot with his Daddy.

 Finn's first Valentine's day was fun for him, I think. Tho he didn't get any pizza. He did give us lots of love and smiles tho.

 We ended up with red velvet cookies with pink frosting for dessert. They were pretty tasty even tho Wyatt is acting like his was poisoned. He did end up eating it.

Just hanging around

Just a few of our hanging around the house shots from the last couple of weeks. Admittedly we haven't been doing too much that seems exciting enough to even pull the camera out.

We have been doing plenty of baking, trying some new recipes and of course making some of the old. Gavin and Henry have really started to like helping in the kitchen and they are actually really good at it now. Henry helped Caleb whip up some excellent monkey bread... not sure what Caleb is trying to say to him in this picture.

 While the older boys are at school I have been being as lazy as possible with these two cuties. As Finn is getting around more and more, you can often find Wyatt on the floor next to him or sometimes on him. Strangely, Finn doesn't seem to mind either way.

 Wyatt had a bit of trauma this week with a fall into the downstairs fireplace. I was upstairs with Finn, but Henry was in the room with him and we still have no idea how the fall happened. Both Wyatt and Henry say that he was just standing by the fireplace and next thing they knew he had hit his face. No stitches required, but he got a pretty nasty cut and scrape.

We have continued to go to the Children's Museum with Anne once a week, and Wyatt is at the stage where he really love his day with Anne. He could spend hours at the water, especially if he can find a cup to move the water around with.

Finn also really likes the museum now that he can hang out in the baby area and mess with everything there.

 Finn's newest trick is scooting and rolling all over the floor. He doesn't have a traditional crawl yet, since his arms don't want to cooperate with his legs on that one, but he can spot something he wants and make his way to it pretty quickly by rolling turning and backing up. It is pretty funny to water.

Just doing a few pushups.

 And lately he is pretty cute as he sits in a normal crawling position and rocks back and forth, usually drooling. He makes me think of that funny bull dog from the old Mickey Mouse cartoons, the one that would always chase Pluto. Just one more way that I think little boys are like puppies.

So Very Much Snow

With record snowfall and several weeks of very cold temps, we have had an interesting month of being hermits. Add to that a few illnesses for the two smallest boys and I have tried to stay in as much as possible. I did try to sneak out and do some intense snow shoveling one day when it was above freezing and few fresh inches had come down. Even though it took as long to get them all in their snow clothes as it ended up taking for me to shovel, the boys were eager to come out and "help" me.

 Wyatt loves the snow so much he can't take his eyes off of it long enough to look at the camera. Every day when we leave the house, he looks down to see what shoes he is wearing and says, "I walk on snow, ok?"

 A very fluffy snow angel

 After all of the shoveling in the past few weeks we have built up our own mini sledding hill on the side of the driveway. Henry was loving it.

 And of course we had some snow ball fights... Can you guess who was the big instigator on that one?

Point Loma

Point Loma was probably my favorite place on the trip to San Diego.  We went on our last morning. It was so beautiful. Great views, and we got to see this super cool submarine heading out into the ocean, hard to beat that. There was also an amazing National Cemetery there and driving through it was quite breathtaking.

 I love this shot of Libbie. Obviously San Diego goes well with her.

 Wyatt loved it there too, though I don't think he looked at the views for more than a minute. He was very excited about all of the sticks and pine cones and spent at least 20 minutes under this bush in his little hideout.

  A few of the Eskelsens hanging out.

 These two were trying to identify some animals on the rocks below. I don't know if they ever figure them out.

 Finn and Ella were such good sports the whole trip and riding in the windy stroller on the walk to the light house was no exception. They even waited outside while everyone climbed the step to the top.

An attempt at a group shot, pretty hard to get everyone to look at the camera when they are quite distracted by the outdoors.

Heading to the Beach

We ended up going to the beach 3 times during out trip, though the first day was by far the nicest weather. I don't have many pictures from the other two days because my battery had died and then it was too windy to get Finn out of the car on the last day. 

Coronado was a great beach and the kids had a blast. The adults enjoyed basking in the sun and getting a little wet and sandy as well.

Henry spent a lot of time searching for shells until he was running from a wave and fell face down and got completely covered with water. He didn't mind the fall much, but he was pretty cold after, so he wrapped up in a towel and then fell asleep on the blanket. He napped there for quite a long time until it was time to leave. Talk about relaxing.

 Mia, Gavin and Mallory managed to get in the water on every beach trip. They love outrunning those waves.

 Wyatt wouldn't go near the water, but once he discovered that the beach is really a giant sand box, he was in heaven.

 Grandma headed out to the ocean.

 Claire was so hilarious hauling water up the beach. She would take her bucket to the edge and try and get as much water as possible and then run back fast, spilling a lot of it. It didn't seem to bother her though, she just kept making more trips.

 Right now, Finn doesn't seem to love the beach. It was a bit too bright and breezy for him, but he was content to be carried around for awhile.

 What a mud monster.

 Jaren was so excited to have his mom bury him in the sand.

 Mallory and Gavin worked intently on the castle moat, even if the castle didn't get much attention.

The Resort Life

We had a super great day at the Resort Monday. We did lots of running around in the grass and sun, and even explored all of the things to do at the rec centers. The kids thought it was great to have a place where they could get on a playground or play the Wii at the same time. Even though it was a little chilly, everyone enjoyed a dip in the pool.

Wyatt kept saying he was Not getting in the swimming pool, but of course he ended up jumping on it and loving it.

 Henry and Gavin having a blast.

 Tatum and Jade got a little wet, but gave up first and sat all cozy in their towels in the sun.

 The hot tub ended up being the preferred location for most people to hang out.

 Mara braved the water slide, so she could't be harassed too much by the oldest nieces and nephews.

 Gavin even gave a scream as he hit the water.